Spring is the time of rebirth and planting, with many hours spent in the soil. Flowers are starting to come out, and freezing temperatures are finally coming to an end. Even the smell of the world changes to reflect the earth waking up from her slumber.

After spending more time indoors, being out in the sun is a relief many people take advantage of. What better way to show your appreciation of Spring than by working in a garden? When beginning work on a garden, it’s important to have soil that is full of nutrients. I’ve covered the benefits of growing mushrooms before, of course, but what do you do once your mini farm is done producing? Do you just throw it away? I imagine you could, but there is a better option: add it to your compost. Compost is a great way to boost your soil, and spent mushroom grow bags are a great addition to your compost pile.

The Agricultural Analytical Services Laboratory, at Pennsylvania State University, performed some research into how beneficial mushrooms are for composting, and they found that the pH level of grow bags is right in the perfect range for most crops, and they have several minerals in them that are necessary for healthy soil.

I’ve mentioned briefly in a past blog about making compost tea with mushrooms, which is a good idea, but it’s even more simple to just toss a mini farm bag in when you’re done. They can be chopped up into mulch, or just tilled right into the rest of the pile. Either way you do it, there’s a likely added benefit of extra mushrooms sprouting up from the mound.

New beginnings take time to develop, and compost works the same way. While a new pile wouldn’t benefit your garden much for several weeks or months to come, it’s a good idea to get one started and keep building it up for use when it’s ready.